Happy Top 10 Dragons Day! Which Dragon fights are your favourite? And to everyone cringing at my Elden Ring Dragon gameplay, I hope the cringe hurts :)

Midir: Prepare for lasers! Plasidusax: And make it double!

One of my hopes for the Elden Ring DLC is a boss fight with a version of Placidusax that has all 5 heads. Probably won't happen, but it could be such a cool fight.

I really think the reason Midir is still my favorite is because his move set is 100x more engaging than any other dragon fight. Most dragon fights including large parts of the Placidusax fight are just swinging at their legs while using sound cues to know when to dodge. Very simple and get boring after so many fights. You also don’t get to see some of the cool animations because of this strategy that is required for most dragon fights. Placidusax might be cooler looking, but with Midir you really have to learn the move set and when you do it’s just amazing. Plus you get to see all the cool attacks as well.

This is maybe a little off topic, since it isn't a boss fight, but the dragon encounter which made the biggest impact on me was the Ash Lake dragon from Dark Souls. I had just enough of a grasp of the lore my first time to know what a big deal it was to find a living Archdragon, after being led to believe they'd been driven to extinction by Gwyn's war of conquest. Usually in these games, things still try to kill you on sight regardless of whether they're a goodie or a baddie in the lore, so it was extra impactful to find this creature entirely peaceful. Some time later, when I finally reached the end of the game, that encounter informed my decision to go for the Dark ending over the Fire ending, in the hope it would allow those poor dragons to finally flourish again.

The first time I fought flying dragon agheel in the network test I was literally blown away. Still one of the most memorable moments in almost 20 years of gaming for me.

I used to really hate the Gaping Dragon because I could never dodge that slamming bite attack thing, but it's slowly evolved into a weird sort of half-ironic love for it.

Don’t forget nameless kings delays feel natural because it’s like he’s powering it up and has a natural feel. Unlike Margit being half way through the swing just to somehow stall.

Personally, Midir is my favorite because it feels like you are fighting a dragon instead of a foot, or a tail. Placidusax is just “explosions, the boss.” It’s not as engaging of a fight for me, it is very slow and even the nuke attack is extremely underwhelming.

Placidusax is not only my favorite dragon boss fight. But it’s also my favorite boss in Elden Ring

Placidusax is not only my favorite dragon fight, but also my favorite boss battle in all of Elden Ring.

I also absolutely love the Gaping Dragon, great music, fun moveset, interesting arena, depressing implications when you realize where he crawled up from and what he's been feeding on and an amazing tail cut weapon too

Fortissax's Deathblight was barely an issue for me, and I think I remember why: it's just like Seath's crystals in that it dissipates from back to front. Knowing this, you can weave between the spots of deathblight inwards to the spots where the deathblight is closer to dissipating. Now that I think about it, the crystals inflict the analogous status so this Fortissax attack is just an iterative improvement upon the Seath attack. The Master Key is definitely what hurt Gaping Dragon for me; by the time I fought him at the proper level I was too good at the game and deleted him with circle strafing anyway.

Dragonlord Placidusax was AMAZING when I first came across him, and so tough.

100% agree with your #1! Elden Ring made me feel that "video game magic" many times, but it was especially fierce in Placidusax' fight. Work that Placidusaxussy!

Gaping Dragon is my favorite bro! I’d prolly put him in my top 5 dragons just because he brings such fond memories of Solaire and I working together to beat him. And his weapon looks like a mushy oreo on a stick from behind. He is just the best doggo. 🤤

i know we disagreed about Guardian dragon vs Ancient dragon but huge props for putting Placidusax over Midir, i feel like thats an unpopular opinion of mine but the pure spectacle of Placidusax was such a unique and incredible experience and his attacks in phase 2 are so cinematic and exciting to interact with

Placidussax might have the best spectacle i've ever seen in any boss ever, honestly the fight itself is great but the spectacle really is enjoyable too. Also king of the storm shouldn't have been that high at all, honestly his fight drags down nameless king for me, he's just annoying to bother with.

Based #1 pick. I absolutely adore Placidusax's spectacle, and moveset. It still can catch me with my pants down depending on where I roll, even compared to Midir, when I did both of them a lot, where I can avoid Midir's onslaught pretty comfortably. The arena is also absolutely gorgeous, coupled with a sick theme, with that delightful escalation. His laser I can only comfortably avoid if I can manipulate where he lands before going off with it. Dodging the actual beams itself is brutally punishing.

Midir is the only fight that really gave me some difficult times in my second DS3 playthrough. I've beaten even Gael first try before him and I still suffered through the whole thing

W midir and plasidusax

Thank you, for this video!

The Souls series isn't short on good Dragon fights these days. I love Sinh, Fortisaax, Ancient Dragon (yep, that one), Placudisaax, Midir and the Divine Dragon for it's spectacle. Even so, however, Black Dragon Kalameet is still my favorite. He was such a breath of fresh air after the Seath encounter. He looks cool and he breathes black fire. His attacks are punishing, but his moveset is fair, with the arena allowing for plenty of opportunity to dodge all of his attacks. It's always a pleasure to fight this fine Dragon specimen when booting up another run of Dark Souls!

I really loved the plasidusax (how tf do you spell it) fight, the arena is so cool, and that red lightning scared the shit out of me on my first playthrough

I used to find Ekzekses (don’t know how to spell his name 😅) really difficult. Those Scarlet Rot breaths were a pain in the hole, especially when he flies up in the air and you don’t know if he’s going to land straight down on you or breath rot.

I died laughing at the suprisingly easy joke

Once again, great list. I’m stoked you included divine dragon. Too many rank videos I’ve seen put the divine dragon at the bottom for reasons like “too easy” and such. It’s meant to be a gimmick of sorts. It’s a spectacular beauty and essential to the lore/best ending

Careful now. Putting anything above DS3 will make people go into a fit, especially Midir…All joking aside, I like Midir(easily top 3) but if I had some criticism towards him it would be that he’s super tanky(Even more so than most dragon fights) and his moveset doesn’t really warrant that much hp. It isn’t as much of a threat after you realize you can pretty much 90% the answer to him is dodging backwards (honestly you can run away from him easily) and get close after his final attacks. He comes really samey at that point. I like Kalameet and Placi more cause that feel more of a positional fight, you never stay in one place.

One of my favorite things to do(might be a bit cheesy) is getting greyll in the bridge to t-pose and die instantly

I mean Gaping Dragon literally won Drag Race, so I think her placement is justified if not slightly lower than it should be

I want to go back in time and fight gransax in the elden ring dlc

Great list. I'd like to add a thing though, about Sinh, that for me personally made him land within top 3, and I cannot decide whether I like him, Midir or Placidusax more. The reason is sheer uniqueness of poison, and something you mentioned as the issue. I actually quite like how DS2 put durability as a mechanic and a hazard, and this boss handles it perfectly for me. As a player looking at Sinh's design, you can see the poison in all environment and his fire breaths. Something you can also spot is the spear embedded in his torso. Initially, I just thought it's a cool design, but then I realised how quickly my weapon breaks - so I thought, "maybe if the spear is in the body, then body is poisonous". I looked at the moveset closer, changed the approach to positioning and realised, that his moves are quite perfectly fit for you to be able to hit his head reliably. Apparently his tail also doesn't break your weapon as much, and similiarly, if you keep track of his attacks and position yourself well, you have just enough time to hit him a bunch after most of his patterns, which is so rewarding once you figure it out. And after that, when my FUGS would break after half the fight when hitting the body, I managed to beat him using barely half of the durability. Both Midir and Placi were satisfying to beat, but Sinh's satisfaction is quite different and really unique, hence why it stuck with me so much. The fact that his visual design indirectly shows you the mechanic and lets you connect all the dots is genius, and it stuck with me to this day as one of my favorite boss experiences of all Fromsoft games.

3:20 - My Agheel story was more along the lines of; Dragon lands, tries to be terrifying, and my reaction was simply " -_- ,. I beat darkeater Mdir, and you are NOT him!"

I would say for top 5 1. Midir 2. Sinh 3. Kalameet 4. Fortissax 5. King of the storm

Placidusax has earned 1st spot. I love Elden Ring's dragons in general but this one is such a grandiose spectacle

Fav/X: Placidusax Love a fair bit/S: Midir, Kalameet, Divine Dragon Like a fair bit/A: Smarag (Liurnia), Ancient Dragon Lansseax, Lichdragon Fortissax, Sinh, Oceiros Like somewhat/B: Magma Wyrm Makar, Borealis (Freezing Lake), Adula, Gaping Dragon, King of the Storm Fine/C+: Greyll (Dragonbarrow), Agheel (Limgrave) Meh/C-: Guardian Dragon, Ekzykes (Caelid) Dislike/D: Ancient Wyvern, Ancient Dragon Strongly Dislike/F: Seath Smarag is probably my "bias boss" I guess? I think it has the coolest overworld encounter in terms of arena and atmosphere and I just have fond memories taking on the thing. The others mostly just exist to me. But Smarag is my rival. (also I've only fought Adula once so I'm not quite as attached to it as others).

I also want to add something what you said about second hp bars on 19:40. I talked about this before so I’ll repeat it here- A boss having a one or two has ALMOST NOTHING to with the mechanics of the game nor is it a balancing thing, it is purely a narrative driven decision. The reason a would have second HP bar is for two reasons 1) You killed them and someone or something revived them 2)The boss is either replaced with a different entity(narrative wise) entirely. I can go more in-depth but if From wants a boss to have a huge they wouldn’t use two health bar unless it narratively needs. This is mostly consistent in all of the souls

About your point on the two health bar and one health bar thing. I don’t think that matters since it is all still technically one health bar. They only do that when the phase 2 happens after the boss died or you are fighting a new entity. Abyss Watcher, Friede, Malenia, all died in the fight and were revived for their second phases. Or with Rennala, you are fighting a new entity, a specter version of herself. It would make no sense if the boss died half way through their health bar. I’m stuck on Laxasia at the moment so idk about other bosses, but Lies of P didn’t understand that and just did it to deceive people I feel. Because there is no reason Champion Victor has one health bar while Laxasia has two. It is just annoying to see that happen for no reason. I hear people say Godfrey and Maliketh needed a second health bar, but that’d make no sense as they didn’t die for their second phase.

Best list of dragon boss fights

Also the head weakness originated with the gaping dragon. That’s the earliest I know, not sure about demons souls

Midir is the best Dragon in gaming hands down. It's a engaging dance and a methodical boss fight. Placidusax is great but it's easy and you can win it with multiple ways. Midir forces you to adapt to him and win only if you get the fight right.

Sooooo happy to see the Lichdragon on the list! I fought him on my NG+ play through recently and OMGGG the arena, the music and boss design?! Yeah it never gets old and he's soo fun to fight! Placi is soo good too! :]

Adulla at 4 and above bosses like Sinh and Fortissax is craaazy lol. Like yeah he’s better than Smarag and arguably the best Elden Ring field dragon but like… is that really saying much? I just have a really hard time seeing an argument for it over the more cinematic dragon fights. That’s the beauty of these lists though, there’s always gonna be a few curveballs

I love the gaping dragon. I don’t think a boss has to be hard as hell to be good

I personally could never stand midir. I never enjoyed the fight and never understood why the community loved the fight so much, even at massive late game healthbars i was still getting 3 or 4 shot, and it never felt like i was ever doing any substantial damage. To me, ancient dragon and midir have always been comparable lol, never liked midir personally is my point

I know it’s not similar to your other content, but would you ever do a God of War ranking? Like boss rankings and weapon rankings.

Will you be doing ranking every gank fight in souls born you hinted at it in one of your video but I don’t think it has come out yet

"And I always think 'this was Plucidisax with two heads. THE THING ORIGINALLY HAD FIVE!' What I wouldn't give to fight this boss in its prime." We might need to be careful of what we wish for. Assuming the DLC ever comes out. Also, would you ever do a "Top 10 Soulsborne / Elden Ring bosses that fill me with rage!"? I think that one would be a ton of fun. Not for you, but me, the sadist watching the pain and anger you experience. Mostly joking about the last sentence, though I think the concept would be fun.

I agree with all of these especially Placidusax. He is probably one of the best bosses in any Souls game that is both mechanically fun and extremely cinematic.

Placidusax just teleports too much for me

Honestly Sinh is my favorite dragon fight. Midirs laser attacks ruin the fight for me, and Placidusax does not feel like a dragon. Also feels like they were trying to make some Tiamat rip-off, which bothers me. Sinh on the other hand is a top 5 fight in the series.

To be honest, I never found Placidusax to be good. The spectacle is there, maybe more so than any other Elden Ring boss, and his moveset is extremely varied, so I don't have any complaints there. The problem is that he wastes your time. I think the best way to explain that is by comparing him to Midir, who is very similar, but a fight that I consider significantly better. It's an optional fight, like Midir's: both are the "secret" of their respective areas, and both aren't exactly intuitively found (Midir is techically skippable as well, but I suspect more people will miss out on Placidousax during a blind playthrough of the game). Both also have a massive, grandiose arena, which is necessary for creatures of their size. However, the massive size of the arena can also be a drawback, as you might end up chasing the boss down for a little too long (especially if said boss can teleport). Both have massive healthbars, and although you can definitely shred Placidousax's faster with the right build, Midir generally takes less time to kill due to his weak spot and the fact that he's almost always on you. This massive healthbar really becomes a problem when managing Estus/Crimson Flasks, but this is much worse in Placidousax's case, partially due to the boss's runback but mostly due to the number of near- unpunishable attacks he has, most notably when he swoops down to claw you with his lightning, then immediately teleports away. Midir also has an attack where he flies and attacks you simultaneously, but that attack can still be punished with good positioning. Both have a dramatic and extremely lethal laser move, but Midir's is not only significantly easier to avoid, it is also significantly easier to punish. In fact, Placidousax doesn't reward you at all for surviving his attack, instead teleporting away again to start up another combo. Now, while I understand that people might like the additional difficulty, I just find this attack to be useless fluff at best and extremely annoying at worst. It's the same reason for why I don't like something like Waterfowl Dance or Rykard's skulls: it's a challenging move to avoid which also gives you no chance to retaliate. The only reward for your skill is that you live, which in my opinion shouldn't be the ONLY reward. Finally, while Midir is constantly agressive and forces a dynamic back and forth between him and the player, Placidousax breaks this flow constantly by flying and teleporting away constantly during his second phase, forcing you to be passive and turning the fight into much more of an endurance-based matchup, where each hit will drain your flasks and take away your already small punish windows. First phase Placidousax doesn't have this problem nearly as much, because he mostly lets the player come to him while not moving around excessively. It's what makes first phase the easiest and most enjoyable section of the fight for me. And for anyone who will say "Oh, you don't like Placidousax because you have a skill issue with him" or something along those lines...I've beaten both Placidousax and Midir at least half a dozen times, and never in the exact same way, and yet Midir was always much more challenging while still being incredibly satisfying and fun to fight. In general, I can see why people might like Placidousax, but for me, he's incredibly overrated.

I love to see Placidusax top 1. I have a soft spot for Midir, because he reminds me Monster Hunter fights. Face to face a dragon is so fun. Placidusax is just behind him, I really love it, he's just a breath of fresh air in the Soulsborne dragon fights formula. I don't really get why people compare Midir and Placidusax apart from the fact that they are dragons. Those two fights are so different. Midir is the ultimate Soulsborne classic dragon fight, while Placidusax feeled more like fighting a force of nature, a fallen lord more than a classic Soulsborne dragon, a pure spectacle. I really love the two of them, just bangers Sinh is probably my number 3 spot, because I love how his fireballs can create poison mist temporally to make you be careful of your positioning + one of my favourite OST in the series

Personally sinh will always just pip midir to the top partly based on the soundtrack being so ridiculously good. The Elden ring fights were a big step back for me- spectacular sure, but not very engaging. Usually you spend the fight hacking at legs which is the worst mistake to make with a dragon fight imo.

if you do a zero prayer beads run in sekiro the divine dragon is a nightmare every attack is a insta kill, and i still dont know how to not get hit in that final combo

Look, I’m sorry in advance. I hear “Gough” pronounced funny and this is the scene that pops into my head: “Now… watch how Gough hunts dragons” *shoots Kalameet* “Wow, thanks Goghggh!” “Don’t mention it…. Wait what did you just call me?” “Goghggh. What? Isn’t that how you pronounce your name? Like the sound you make when something’s caught in your throat?” “No! It’s Gough! It’s VERY simple! Gough!! For god’s sake I JUST said it!” “Look man, I don’t know what to tell you. I’m pronouncing it Goghggh and you just gotta deal with it. It’s more dramatic, has more flair and helps me forget I’m basically asking a half brain dead cave man archer for help with a boss so…thanks again! I’m out.” “…Fine, you’re welcome. You’re gonna get your ass kicked later though when you insist on calling him Manoose”

midir 1st for me he is literally a tank placidussax was way easier

Everyone has an opinion, but there is no world where Placidusax is better than Midir. The nuke attack is nice visually, but at the end of the day it's a giant blob that casts annoying lightning aoe while he sits around, occasionally teleporting away while doing very repetitive claw attacks. It's such a night and day difference comparing the beast that is Midir, who feels like an actual giant dragon chasing you, and using his full potential to eat or incinerate you, to the slog that is Placidusax. Even fightning Kalameet feels more epic to me than Placidusax, cause Flacid Sacks feels so forced, while even Kalameet makes you feel like you're locked in combat with a dragon.

I have to admit that I'm not a big fan of dragon fights in souls games, early ones felt clunky and ones from Elden Ring repetative (plus a lot of them reward horseback combat, which I find incredibly boring). That leaves DS3, so unsurprisingly Midir is my favourite by a large margin. I love how this fight seem incredibly chaotic when you first start learning it, but it actually turns very ordered, with precise responses required from the player. Kinda feels like tougher fights in metroidvanias like Hollow Knight, Blasphemous or GRIME, where you need to perform a very specific series of movements to be rewarded with an opening.

As a Monster Hunter veteran who decided to dip their toes into Soulsborne, Darkeater Midir made me feel so at home, like fighting a larger Fatalis Although I'm curious why Elden Beast wasn't here? It had wings, can fly, has a fire breath attack, etc. Still a great list!

Top 3 is spot on.

In terms of gameplay Midir fight is vastly superiour then any other dragon fight from souls. You fight midir head on reacting to his attack like a proper boss, and on any other dragon you just go and smack a side or back leg

I could argue how Midir is better than Placidusax by just a little or why nameless king def isn’t a dragon. But honestly putting Smarag with one more move and 10% health at number 4 is the goofiest thing about this list 💀

Placidusax? More like Placidu sucks. Midir? More like Mid ir. Gottem! Just kidding, I love both very much.

I can't believe they named dragon Fortnitesucks. Also Sinh > Kalameet. Mr Black D. Kalameet is for me the epitome of "souls dragons are boring to fight" and he got a minus point for having you to run to his arena, die run to the big fella and then run again to his arena to properly fight him. Seath at least had a decency to unlock more of the level by killing you

I generally agree with the top, but as for me, Gaping Dragon is only interesting in design. As a bossfight, I would put it in the very last place (in the previous part of the top)

Midir is what Dragon God and Ancient Dragon failed to be. Dragon God was like the reason o got Demon Souls in ps3. I still remember my deep disappointment. Like bed of chaos is gael to me next to dragon god.

Black Dragon Kalameet, from the Artorias of the Abyss DL SSSS …I’m sorry…DL SSS?

1:51 Well it’s pretty justifiable though. I mean Gaping Dragon is unique and a more enjoyable fight, and it also has an actual arena, so I guess your "weird boss bias" is gone now because I agree with you.

I’m sorry but Midir is absolute leagues above Placidusax. He’s the definitive dragon fight in the series and is the only deserving no.1

My favorite fight is dragon deez nuts across their corpses😊

Where is the elden beast? He is also a dragon if your are counting the storm dragon as one.

Didn’t expect Placidusax to be that high! Midir is easily the best in the series, followed by Kalameet and Sinh

Elden ring dragons are better fought on foot and horse. Change my mind. Maybe besides Egzykes

Adula that high? I like fortissax better but very solid list!

Funny gaping dragon story my friend was stuck on the boss for ages and I first tried it easily

Uhh, if you're counting Nameless King as a Dragon Fight. . . . Then you should had used Ebrietas, Daughter of the Cosmos from your community poll last month. . . . Plus I would have Placidusax lower. It's 2nd Phase is basically an annoying Dodging Simulator and that obnoxious OHKO Beam Other than that, great list. Once again, Dragons are just awesome. . .for the most part

Awww, I love the Gaping Dragon! Before I left a dragon hater comment but totally forgot about the walking erotic toy for the brave. That still doesn’t change that I find most dragons a bit boring but not this… gal? Guy? Who knows!

I do not like Placi as a fight honestly. He either stays still or teleports an annoying amount, very irritating AoEs, and overall a bit boring and drags on quite a bit. Also, he really shows how poorly optimized the game is on PC for handling many particle effects at once. I have specs that are far above what should be able to consistently run it at max settings on 60fps, but fighting Placi drops it to 30fps sometimes.

19:30 Honestly I like multiple health bars over one singular bar that goes down more slowly, it feels like you’re actually making progress when there’s two health bars. Bosses with one bar just feel too spongey. I wanna see that red line go downnnn when I get hits in, I don’t wanna feel like I’m tickling the boss to death. Lol

I can never find myself enjoying placidussax. It just feels like hitting a rock. It loses the dance feeling of midir, even if its cool. I personally think midir is an easy winner but its just my opinion

You fight on torrent like a coward.